Does vehicle size really play a factor in saving your Life in an accident?
 

The other day I was browsing my hometown paper on the Internet and I came across the story of a PT Cruiser that was broadsided by a an 19 year old driving a RAM Dodge Diesel Truck. The two occupants of the PT Criser lost their lives.

I always make my wife drive my 85 300D because it such a heavy strong car even thouigh it has no airbags. I like the fact that that 600 poujnd engine is sitting there in front of her and those huge tires and big ass are in her rear.

I know the rule of thumb is that the bigger car is going to survive in an accident, but my officemates told thats only in maybe head on collisions.

Many collisions occur at wierd angles or as a result of lost control flipping and vehicle rollover, like the case I mention above. A PT Cruiser is not a big car but its not a microcar either.

Where am I going with all this? I see all those Microcars on the road now. perhaps they should have a special Microcar Lane. They seem so small and flimsy but I am told they are safe. I saw a Smart Car (Mercedes) on the intersate today. the thing is literally a wheelchair with an aerodynamic fairing.

I wonder what the True Data is?

There's some good data from various sources on various vehicles crash safety:

NHTSA stats: http://www.safercar.gov/

A Swedish car insurance co.: http://www.folksam.se/polopoly_fs/1.11226!/sakrabilar2005.pdf

Safety info from NZ:
http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/vehicles/

There's some really interesting things on those three sites. NZ puts the 123s and 126s as only "Average" in safety. But the Swedish insurance co. listed the 200/300 MB series (at least from 86-95) as "at least 15% safer than average".

I think a better question is, what are you more likely to get in an accident in? 3 motorcycle accidents, 7 bicycle accidents. Most involved SUVs or trucks. SUV's and trucks should all but be banned from the roads. Thank god for $8/gal gas. Best thing that has ever happened to the US.

Here's a cool crash test video for the Smart Car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s

IMHO, more car = bigger crumple zones = less damage to you.

In a given collision, a simple one like head on or rear ender, if there's a size difference between the vehicles, the larger vehicle will absorb less energy than the smaller vehicle by a percentage that roughly equals how much bigger their vehicle is than the smaller one. Like a 6000 lb. vehicle hitting a 4000 lb. vehicle, the occupants of the 6000 lb. vehicle will feel 40% of the impact and the others will get 60%.

This is all offset, of course by size and construction and the presence of airbags, etc... All that energy has to go somewhere.

Bigger cars do not necessarily survive an accident better than smaller ones. It depends a lot on how the car was built. If those same occupants were in a Mercedes Benz or a Volvo, two cars that have EXCEEDED our safety standards for decades, they might have walked away from it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzFXN9lFvws Nothing more needs to be said.:D

Yup, size is a factor in multi-vehicle accidents but it's not the only factor. Construction and air bags make a big difference too. In single-vehicle accidents size is irrelevant and crumple zones and airbags are everything. Car safety has improved significantly over the years. Here's an interesting head-on crash of an older Volvo against a newer Renault.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ygYUYia9I

The only statistic that makes SUVs look safer is relative death rates in SUV v. car accidents. The fact that SUVs kill people in cars does not automatically make the SUV a safer vehicle. In fact, for various reasons they are much less safe then a sedan, especially one of ours.

Dodge Ram and F250 drivers....
 

For some reason I have this feeling that drivers of the huge Ford/ Dodge Pickup trucks think they are driving Indy 500 cars, because almost without variation they are driving them aggressively and bullying people on the road with their size and power. Those things can go 100 and out accelerate a BMW M3.
It didnt surprise me to read the perpetrator of the accident was a Dodge RAM driver.

I mean this is very dumb, but when I think of a profile driver of a Dodge Ram or F250, I think of a 37 year old guy about 6' 2 220 in a rush to get to Golds Gym. I mean do you ever see some bespectacled tiny Simon Garfunkel type driving one of those trucks or some old chubby guy wearing glasses on his way to Barnes and Nobles.

CNN once reported on a study that showed SUV's are no safer than cars because of the increased rollover risk. A lot of SUV deaths are from single-vehicle rollovers.

Here's another good video that shows pickups are not always safe either. Again, construction is everything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCIBOYxzqko&feature=related

Sadly though, Mercedes has not always done a great job either. Here's a crash test of an early W210, like the one I have. :( The crash test dummy didn't suffer major injuries and it looks worse than it is, but I'd still say it's disappointing for a Mercedes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp2N0gce0-k

Thats why I would never buy an early W210, they fixed that after 1998.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujEA0S9QxGI

I think the best place to be in a crash is inside the newest S class you can afford. The best of the best.

I didn't know that when I was buying this car a few years ago. I was pretty surprised when I first learned about this. Still not as bad as this next one. Don't buy Chinese cars. :eek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kQGAK550LE

I wonder if the W140 and W124 are safer than the early W210's. If so, that would be progress in reverse. Newer cars are always supposed to be safer than the previous generation.

Considering how much they spent designing the W140 it better be safe. $1,000,000,000 was real money back in the late 80's.:D

As Reagan once said, thats billion with a B!:D

By the way, here is Smart's press release touting the recent crash data:

http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/1229/v187/www.smartusa.com/press/smartUSA-IIHS.pdf

Here's an interesting and easy to navigate site for crash tests.
http://www.euroncap.com

As I just found out the A-pillar bending problem was not exclusive to Mercedes at that time. It seems that virtually all makes and models prior to 1998 had that problem or worse. VW and Volvo seemed better than most back then (look at the entire large-family-car list). What a major improvement in most cars since then except for some like the Chevy Aveo. Too bad this sort of crash testing doesn't go back further in time. I'd be interesting to see how the W126 and W140 and others would fare.